


Old Time's Sake

by veridium_bye



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Help, I wrote this instead of working on graduate applications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 04:54:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16381814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veridium_bye/pseuds/veridium_bye
Summary: Theia, Veronica, and Olivia recount some of their allies on the days of the Mage Rebellion when they had gone rogue for the sake of survival and vengeance. Josephine, Leliana, and Cassandra play audience to their reminiscing. All things considered, it most definitely is not a boring conversation.





	Old Time's Sake

It was one of those rare nights where peoples’ wanderings led them to relax for a moment and enjoy conversation. Tonight, the amalgamation of bodies was Olivia, Cassandra, the Inquisitor herself, Josephine, Leliana, and Veronica. All having wandered into the Inquisitor’s chambers for one reason or another around the same time, and all hungering for curious questions to be answered.

Tonight, it was about the Foxes – the grouping of Theia, Naomi, Veronica, and Olivia – during their days surviving the Rebellion’s tumult. Josephine, Cassandra, and Leliana had all in their own ways grown interested in just what it was like.

As they all sat around the large fireplace, assembled like a consortium of lethal women with stories to tell, they looked almost picturesque enough to be captured in a painting: on one loveseat, Josephine and Theia sat side-by-side, tall and warm in their postures. Then, to their right facing the fire, Veronica was sprawled in her seat, leaning back on the arm rest with her legs spread wide. Above her head, Sister Nightingale sat up against the back rest, a hand resting on her thigh. Then, to their right, another loveseat for Cassandra and Olivia. Though, whereas Cassandra had sat herself on the cushions, Olivia opted for the floor. She had her legs tucked like a lady underneath her work gown, an elbow resting across Cassandra’s thigh as she leaned against her legs. Ever so often she would perch her chin on it whilst she listened to others talk.

“I do not understand,” Cassandra retorted Theia’s recount of a particular anecdote, “you did not have an ounce of navigational knowledge between the five of you?”

Theia chuckled. “I know, it seems rather outlandish. But, we each had some memory of a city or province to speak of. By trial and error we were able to have a rough idea of where we were in relation to them: Naomi being Antivan and knowing that she was south of her home city, and me being from the Free Marches, for example.”

“Still, you had no resources for finding your way.”

“We had the road, and typically, running in the opposite direction of the rabid men with swords helps you to decide where you’re apt to go,” Theia leaned back and rest her outstretched arms on her couch.

Olivia giggled warmly, resting her head up on Cassandra’s knee. “My Love, not everyone works by virtue of maps, compasses, and falconry.”

Cassandra smirked. “I understand that well enough.”

Veronica snorted, then, rolling her shoulders as they were stiffening in her relaxed position. She had been sucking her teeth whilst Theia told the stories, opting instead to smirk or scoff whenever she was a little too embellishing or sentimental. For Ro, it was no romantic story – it was a era of her life where she was broken and pieced together night after night, surviving. They had all internalized these memories in their own respective ways, but for her, it was a wound that would never heal – not fully, anyway. But, like she always did, she expressed that via salted humor.

“Roslyn and I did the majority of the scouting whilst Theia tripped on logs, lest you forget, Inquisitor,” she teased, letting the synonyms of Theia’s moniker linger on her tongue with a mocking sentiment.

Already aggravated by the interjection, Theia rolled her eyes and took her chalice from the table in between them all.

“Yes, but who was there to fish both of you out of trouble when you were “scouting” down groups of bandits?”

“We were capable,” Veronica glared with light affection, “Roslyn’s blade and magic were indominable.”

“Yes, as was her penchant for testing it over and over without thinking,” Theia retorted as she folded her arms. Roslyn, the fifth Fox that was never known to the Inquisition’s ranks due to her death, was still a point of contention for Veronica and Theia even as they had put her memory to rest. Roslyn would never have the chance to redeem her goodness, or to prove herself productive to a cause bigger than herself in spite of her life. This was harder for Veronica to process than Theia, who had seen too many people die to feel particularly engrossed in “what if’s” unless she was feeling particularly masochistic.

As the two women stared at each other, a moment of sore tension ebbed.

“My Love,” Josephine intervened, her warm and cordial tone smoothing down the stress, “you have never truly explained what each of your purposes were. I understand that you were all five Mages from the Circle, but, I heard Olivia remark that it was you and Veronica alone originally?” she inquired with a gentle hand on Theia’s lap.

“Yes, I am also interested in what your recruitment strategies were. It seems quite…idyllic, to have such an assemblage of skills. Though, I cannot say I am unsurprised, I have seen such wonders manifest before,” Leliana mused, peering towards Theia with kind eyes.

Theia sighed, recollecting that far back was a bit more difficult these days. Not to worry, though, because Olivia was there with the keen take.

“Veronica and Theia were close friends in the Circle, and originally we were all extensions of their bond. They came to me a day after we received word that the Circles had elected to disband and asked if I would be interested in leaving. I was one of the top apprentices in apothecarial and tempest studies, and Theia knew me because we were neighbors between beds.” Olivia was quite nonchalant as she told her perspective. She leaned away from her lover’s body and sat tall so as to visualize all who were around her as she spoke.

Cassandra’s eyes instinctively glimmered when Olivia spoke, watching her and taking in precious details of her past. Sometimes she wondered just what she was like in those days, before survival meant subjecting her body to unspeakable things. How fresh her face would be, how unassuming her temperament would have been. Though, when she caught herself romanticizing, she remembered what Olivia would always say: such times were anything but a preface to violence, they were the violence.

“I assume Naomi was recruited for her healer’s work, no?” Leliana pushed the conversation forward.

Veronica smirked, gazing up at her superior. “Naomi was a funny one. She was one of the sequestered Mages, kept to herself because of her radical potential. She was susceptible to possession, though none of us really knew why at the time she was separate from us. I found out where she had been kept and passed notes to her. That was how I asked her to come with. She didn’t know any of us well enough to trust us, but she did. We helped her escape. It was one of the last things we did before we took off.”

Theia chuckled under her breath. “The fact that she was a Healer was rumor to us all, actually. The Templars did not let her work on Mages or civilians, only their own. Selfish, hypocritical bastards,” she huffed.

“Then, Roslyn invited herself,” Veronica made eye contact with Olivia, who in turn joined her in her laughter. Theia, even, cracked a smile which evolved into a chuckle. As the three women laughed in concert, their respective company watched with various levels of intrigue.

“What on Earth is that supposed to mean?” Josephine cut in with a sly grin.

Olivia put her hand to her mouth, trying to contain herself enough to explain with decorum. “Roslyn saved me as we were escaping. I had repelled down the wall, and Templars were patrolling the outside garden walkway. She harpooned one with…” she burst out with another laugh, “you see, she…” but she could not get it out. It was too funny, apparently, for her to manage.

Cassandra eyed her and could not help but smile crookedly.

“Oh, Maker’s ass!” Veronica exclaimed, tilting her head back, “she stuck him with a lousy candle stick! She unskewered the candle from it and chucked it over her shoulder like a bloody spear!”

Theia gasped again, her laughter becoming uproarious. Olivia covered her cheeks and mouth with her hands, bending over her thighs as she cradled herself in her glee.

“The look…on his…oh Maker, his face!” Theia managed to get out.

All the while, Josephine, Leliana, and Cassandra all had their own ways of reacting: Josephine, her hand to her mouth and awed like a Lady. Cassandra, leaning back against the couch, a look of marveling at the idea of a Mage apprentice grabbing a stick from the table and weaponizing it. And then, Leliana, holding back a laughter of her own.

Eventually, the concert of laughter calmed and quieted.

“Roslyn always said she was a walking kill-shot,” Theia sighed, shaking her head. “Magic was simply the icing on the cake.”

“Such a bitch, but the best kind,” Veronica spit a bit in exuberance, reaching her hands and resting them behind her head.

Josephine smirked, her gaze switching from Veronica, to Olivia, now. “I suppose you were very thankful she defended your life, Lady Olivia.”

“Yes, very much so. Though, I was able to make good on it in return on more than one occasion,” she replied, before rising to her feet in order to sit on the couch beside her woman, the Seeker. Poised and proper in habit, she held her hands on her lap and sat upright, complexion gleaming in the firelight.

Theia reached back and felt the tightness of her braided hair in its up-do, rubbing the back of her neck to provide some relief.

“Oh, yes, you did,” she agreed.

Olivia’s shoulders shrugged as if she had admitted to making a teeny-tiny mistake. “Such things are possible for friends.”

Cassandra’s brow furrowed. “What things are you referring to?”

Olivia turned and eyed her woman from over her shoulder, a look of flirtation in her eyes that was sweet, but unsettling given the topic at hand. Theia and Veronica both held their breath, waiting to see if she would be forthcoming with such details.

“I…well, I utilized by particular method of resolving conflict.”

Cassandra, naïve in her belief that such demure language was harmless, pressed forth: “What did those methods entail, exactly?”

Olivia bit her lip, and she turned and looked to both of her friends. In return, the both gave looks of “oh well, honesty may be the best policy? Who knows,” to her. She smirked after a brief moment of hesitance.

“There was one night we were staying in an inn near her home village, and a boy she knew from her childhood had rode all the way to meet with her. She had feelings for him, but when he arrived, it was to tell her he was married. He did not wait for her like he had promised. She cried, and cried, and cried to us in our room for hours!” Olivia ran her fingers through her hair, remembering how she had pet and stroked Roslyn’s own head of deep red hair as she wailed.

“Apparently he had said he would never marry a Mage rebel, though he used more…colorful language” Theia groaned in secondhand embarrassment, “even though he had known the truth of what she was.”

“Foolish bastard,” Veronica rejoined.

Then, there was a moment of recognitive silence, wherein all three Mage women savored the bittersweet memory. At last Olivia continued her story, turning and looking directly at Cassandra as she was the one who had asked in the first place.

“I was feeling particularly protective, so in the middle of the night, I stole away to his suite where he had elected to stay for a night before traveling home. Unsurprisingly, he was more than amiable when it came to the allure of a strange, beautiful woman wanting to share his bed. I got him where I wanted him, and then I scared the life out of him almost.”

Leliana and Josephine both look positively delighted. Such acts of friendship were not unfamiliar to them. It was Cassandra, of course, who looked vaguely disturbed.

“I know I will kick myself for continuing to ask for specificity, but…” she stalled.

Oliva saw the timidity in her expression and giggled. “I did the trick I do whenever people think me defenseless and meek.”

Theia winced and widened her eyes. “Ugh, that thing,” she gave a sorry grin.

“The worst,” Veronica agreed.

“What is it? Did you enchant something onto him?” Josephine asked, the pleasant nature of her disposition diverging from the caution in the women sitting on either side of her.

“No, she must have filleted him like a fish fresh from the docks,” Leliana made her own prediction, her shoulder slightly leaning forward toward Olivia’s direction. These stories were always the best and most entertaining.

Olivia stifled a laugh, witnessing the array of responses to her. “It was…well, I could show you better than I could tell you.”

“Ugh, no, Olivia!” Veronica grew restless, grabbing a throw pillow and holding it to her chest now. Her legs went up and rested against her now cushioned upper body. This made Theia chuckle, finally seeing her friend who was so bodacious and crass being phased by something.

“Do not listen to Veronica. Please demonstrate,” Leliana grinned mischieviously.

Olivia took a breath. “It is most unusual, and not all Mages opt to learn it, since it is rather benign besides the appearance,” she prefaced as she pulled her hair out of her face. Theia looked on with one raised brow as she crossed her legs.

Veronica held the pillow to her mouth, leaving only her eyes and nose visible. Everyone else went quiet, eyes fixed on the blonde, angelic looking woman who seemed to be preparing to turn into some otherworldly beast.

At last, Olivia got into her zone. She closed her eyes and arched her back, rolling her shoulders and feeling the mana in her body surge into her head. There was a humming behind her eye sockets that she could both hear and feel, though she knew it to be inaudible outside of her body. She got lost in its vibrations, meanwhile on the outside her complexion started to darken. It began at her nose and brow line, the color of charcoal that took hold. It was as if an evil stormcloud had amassed itself on her face, and at once her entire head was now raven black. It looked as if she had turned into a bust of black marble. The contrast of her honey blonde hair making her seem all the more unsettling.

She then inhaled sharply, and her eyes opened wide and fast. The irises that had once been hazel and inviting were now shining with a golden effervescence, but it was an insidious kind of sight, and not benign. The pupils within their hold had expanded, to where it looked like she had the eyes of a cat and not a human.

Cassandra flinched and jerked herself up from the couch, stepping back until she was beside Leliana who had not moved a single inch as she looked on with fascination. Josephine had leaned back and toward Theia’s side, but she, too, did not react with overwhelming terror. Both Veronica and Theia looked on with knowing expressions – they had seen this sight before, and while it was anxious to see their happy friend turn into such an entity, they knew it was temporary. 

Seeing Cassandra retreat, Olivia turned to watch her, and her face softened from what they could see of it. Her pale, midnight lips parted, her teeth pearlescent white in comparison.

“My Love, it is alright,” she said, though her voice echoed as if she were standing in a cavernous hallway.

“Olivia…” Cassandra remarked. She then moved closer, slowly returning to her seat beside Olivia even as she looked positively terrifying.

In return, her woman grinned, and she reached for the Seeker’s hand. Taking it into her grasp, she guided it to her face so as to have her touch it. Cassandra was unnerved, but she did not withdraw her hand. As Olivia placed it on her cheek, holding it between her face and her own hand, she smiled.

Cassandra raised her brow. “You…it is just your skin…” she remarked with a breathy tone of astonishment.

Olivia nodded eagerly. “Yes, silly.”

“I have not seen a sight like this except when Mages are possessed. How is it that you can do this?”

Olivia let go of her hand, though Cassandra kept it to her face. She rolled her eyes closed, taking in a deep breath of air. In tandem with her chest expanding, her complexion began to glow, and at once the opaque blackness of it was reabsorbed into her eyes like ceding smoke.

Once she had returned herself to her original form, Olivia grinned and opened her eyes softer now. The gold was gone, replaced by her honeyed gaze.

“Temptresses never reveal their talents,” she replied.

Around them, all the women looked on in wonder. Theia knew the truth of the ritual, but she would never disclose it without Olivia’s permission. Veronica took care not to know such things; her discomfort with the fact that Olivia knew how to do something like that was ample enough for her.

Josephine shook her head in awe. “How extraordinary,” she said aloud.

“Indeed. I must ask if you would be willing to perform your techniques on some of the Commander’s men who have been toying with my Ravens.”

Olivia giggled. “I cannot do it often. My magic does not always comply. It is little more than a parlor trick.”

“So this man was met with you in the dark, looking as you just did?” Josephine asked, leaning forward wit her hands clasped together on her lap.

“Yes, but rest assured, I did not lay a finger on him. He did that to himself when he fell out of the window from the third story.”

Theia and Veronica then both chuckled, both of them picturing the look of the half-dressed man running off into the cold mountain weather of the night. Roslyn’s face when she saw his bare ass flailing as pale as the moon. The way she laughed with sweet vengeance and hugged Olivia when she returned from her doing the deed.

“That…is…” Cassandra struggled, her eyes still widened a bit.

Olivia looked back at her. Her lips parted as she wondered if she had offended her lover, someone who was known for being rather rigid in the face of creative uses of magic. She remained quiet, waiting for the verdict to be expressed whatever it was.

Cassandra saw the look on her face, the hope that she would not be judged broadcasting itself. She knew Olivia was capable of many different skills; she also knew that she, herself had a habit of airing on the side of critical caution.

“Offensive? Horrifying? In poor taste?” Olivia asked, seeing if she could finish her sentence for her.

Cassandra smirked, then, and took hold of her hand. “It is remarkable.”

Hearing her, Olivia exhaled with relief, a broad smile appearing on her face. Whether or not Cassandra believed that to be the best word deep down, it meant something to Olivia that she was willing to lead with compassion instead of harshness. In an act of thanks, Olivia leaned in and kissed her on the cheek softly.

“I would never utilize it on you, my Love.”

Veronica scoffed, setting her defensive pillow to the side now. “Honestly, is this what love does? Exempts you from consequences to your actions?”

Theia wrapped an arm around Josephine and leaned forward so as to glance in Veronica’s direction. “Ro, don’t be jealous, now.”

“I am not!”

“Really? Because I can feel your magic bitterly growling from here.”

“You will also feel it when I use it to send your nosy arse out that balcony window.”

“Try it, I’ll bring down the mountain on your imbecilic head. Or better yet, I’ll have this blasted hand of mine simply send me back through the Fade, with my boot aiming for your backside!”

“You--!” Veronica lurched up, sitting up straight as if she were about to leap off her seat. At once, she felt a restrictive yank from behind as Leliana took hold of her vest.

“Now, now, agent,” Leliana warned, pulling Veronica back against the couch rest, “you are in the company of Ladies.”

Josephine smiled along with Olivia, who were used to such rules being invoked in their name. The Ambassador then placed a gentle hand on Theia’s lap again. “You can have all the sparring you want in the courtyard tomorrow, mi amor.”

Theia sighed. “Yes, I know, unfortunately.”

“You two,” Olivia sighed, “you were arguing the day I met you both, and you argue still today.”

Veronica no longer needed to be held back, and feeling her release from Leliana’s grip, she sat back and crossed her legs and her arms in unison. The stiffness in her body language symptomatic of a bruised ego. Whether she liked it or not, Theia would always be a nerve for her. Olivia and Naomi were always the most diplomatically immune of the group, playing mediator or liaison between wounded parties. Watching them even so much as throw empty threats sent Olivia directly into that mode.

“I would not be so—”

“Veronica,” Olivia interrupted her, “why bother with hypotheticals so late in the evening?”

Veronica rolled her eyes, though not in disrespect. She would never mean something so rude to Olivia, the one soft spot of them all.

“Fine.”

Olivia grinned in triumph and leaned into Cassandra’s firm shoulder. She scanned across the space, taking note of everyone’s face as she did so. Theia’s resigned smugness that hid her meticulous side. Veronica’s stubborn pout that hid her sensitivity. Josephine, who was the most unprejudiced person she had ever come across, still intrigued by the inner workings of Mage dynamics even as so much of their culture demonized them. Leliana’s knowing gaze, semi-distant but purposeful. Then there was Cassandra, of course, seeming to become less and less shocked by the theatrics of the dispositions she was surrounded by nowadays.

She intertwined her fingers with hers and relaxed.

“Such tempers.”


End file.
